Ratan Tata, Hrithik Roshan in talks to fund health startup, CureFit

Tata’s new venture fund with University of California Investments is also in talks to invest in CureFit. Tata is already an angel investor in CureFit.Richa Maheshwari | ET Bureau | February 27, 2017, 01:42 IST

Hrithik Roshan had earlier worked with CureFit's cofounder Mukesh Bansal at Myntra for his brand HRX.BENGALURU: Ratan Tata and Bollywood actor Hrithik Roshan are in talks to invest in CureFit, a healthcare startup founded by former Flipkart executives.

The year-old entity started by Mukesh Bansal and Ankit Nagori has so far raised about $20 million and counts venture capital firms Kalaari Capital, Accel Partners and IDG Ventures as investors. Roshan wants to take an equity stake in the company. “This partnership will mostly be a cash-plus-equity deal,” said Roshan, who worked with Bansal in Myntra for his lifestyle brand HRX. The deal is expected to be finalised in the next few months.

Tata’s new venture fund with University of California Investments is also in talks to invest in CureFit. Tata is already an angel investor in CureFit and the fresh investment could be a part of the new round of $15-20 million, which the startup plans to raise this year, said two officials who declined to be identified.

Both deals are “not finalised yet”, said a company official. Queries sent to Tata on email did not facilitate any response. “He (Tata) came as an angel investor right at the time when we were incorporating the company,” said Nagori, without commenting on a possible follow-on investment by Tata through the fund.

Roshan, along with his fitness instructor, has designed a signature workout style under HRX brand, Xfit, which will be launched officially next month in the startup’s gym centre, Cult.

While online fashion firm Myntra is tying up with celebrities to help consumers wear their style, CureFit is using a similar technique in the fitness world, experts said.

The company said Cult has eight centres with 8,000 customers and is profitable. CureFit operates as a direct seller of services rather than a marketplace. Under it, there are four companies — CureFit Logistics, New World Inventions, CureFit Healthcare and Curefoods — to build a platform comprising fitness, health food and other services.

Nagori and Bansal quit Flipkart weeks after a top-level restructuring and launched their startup in April last year, pooling in $5 million. The company raised $15 million in Series A funding from Kalaari, Accel and IDG Ventures in July. Since its incorporation, CureFit has acquired three startups in the fitness and mental health space.

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India predicts that with increased digital adoption, the Indian healthcare market, which is worth about $100 billion, will likely grow to $280 billion by 2020.

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